Teaching the Deaf to Speak

Teaching the Deaf to Speak

""To Past President Cesar Campos goes the credit for the Club’s 21-year connection to the Philippine Institute for the Deaf (PID). His is a two-sided advocacy—one, for the students whose auditory capabilities are severely impaired; and two, for the method used by the school to usher them from the realm of silence to the realm of sound-- the sound of their own voice used in speech.

PID teaches the deaf to communicate through oral language, not through the conventional hand signs that keep them confined in silence. The method gives the deaf a chance at “normality,” is tedious, entails much effort and time, and requires the use of costly specialized tools. But it is considered superior to the hand signs method in that it gives the deaf person a sense of being “normally abled,” thus easing his/her way through the circles of normal people.

The Club’s assistance efforts for the school began in 1994 during the term of Pres. Carlos del Rosario with annual donations to its scholarship fund. Its last donation, of P350,000, was in July 2015 at the beginning of its golden anniversary year.

Through the years the Club has provided assistance in various forms to the school, notably an audiovisual room outfitted with specialized audio equipment for which the Club applied for a $12,000 matching grant during the term of PP Ricardo “Ric” Librea. The Club has also donated two hybrid air-conditioning units that run on solar power and LED lights that have cut the school’s monthly electricity bill by 50%.

From time to time, students and faculty are invited to a Club meeting, during which previously-mute children get to show off their newly-acquired oral language skills. The Rotarians in turn pay occasional visits to the school. The Club also supports the annual culminating activity at yearend, where the children perform in a musical program that showcases lessons learned and skills acquired during the year.""